By Simon Hirst: It has been a while since Sky’s decision to loosen ties with Ricky Hatton and Frank Maloney and cut television dates down, with the belief that it is easier to deal with just the one promoter. That lucky promoter is Eddie Hearn, who has a superb array of British talent that boasts Darren Barker, Carl Froch and Kell Brook. In addition to this, there is also Hearn’s brainchild concept of ‘The Prizefighter’ series which is always a crowd favourite. If their was a decision to choose just one promoter in Britain to deal with, then it is hard to argue that Hearn doesn’t offer the most in talent.
However, this decision has slammed the door shut on long time promoter Frank Maloney and up and coming promoter Ricky Hatton. In turn, they are also shutting out exciting heavyweight David Price, world rated Martin Murray, excellent prospect Scott Quigg and his rival Rendall Munroe. For those who enjoy Sky Sports coverage, it will be a real shame to not see these fighters on the channel, unless they were to fight a Hearn fighter or got permission from their promoter to appear on a card.
So where do such quality boxers go? Maloney and Hatton have been left to look for television dates elsewhere, but with Sky showing no interest in them; it will be tough negotiating a good deal with a rival TV channel. The likely names will be those already covering boxing, with BoxNation and Channel 5 leading the way. I imagine you may get smaller offers such as Eurosport, who knows maybe ITV would consider it after they have a deep history with boxing, showing some classic fighters from the Benn-Eubank era.
Questions then remain. Are the budgets enough for the promotions to keep their boxers? Do the channels offer enough exposure for the fighters liking? Will there be enough dates? What happens when contracts dwindle down? Do they jump ship to bigger money, better opportunity? Do these promotions become feeders to bigger promotions? Look at Tony Bellew as a good example. He holds a contract with Frank Warren, but made it very clear he wants to fight on Sky Sports rather than BoxNation.
With this said, Mick Hennessey is a promoter who has benefitted from being frozen out at Sky. He done a deal with Channel 5 and is slowly building a nice stable on the channel with Kid Galahad, Tyson Fury and Chris Eubank Jr amongst the stars he is building. He is a source of inspiration to others frozen out.
BoxNation are a subscription channel dedicated to boxing. They show Frank Warren fights as well as big fights abroad. In addition to this, they show repeats of these fights. However, constant repeats are never an attractive thing with a channel so by signing Hatton Promotions or Maloney Promotions, they would add to their stable, enable them to show new fights, make match making with their current stable easier and hopefully this would translate into more subscriptions.
Short term effects could impact their fighter’s careers. They may be put into situations they may not be comfortable with. David Price, before pulled, was scheduled to make his American debut. Other fighters may follow. In these scenario’s, they will be getting exposure in other countries, gaining experience in fighting different styles and what it is like not to enjoy all the home comforts. The problem they may face is fight dates may become harder to come by, limited opportunities which can be frustrating. Learning a trade abroad isn’t always a bad thing, just ask Ashley Theophane.
It will be interesting to see it from Sky’s point of view too. What happens if Hearn’s stable pick up injuries? What happens if their stars lose big fights and lose some of their appeal to fans? Short term figures of this plan have been excellent, with high viewing figures for Froch’s IBF title win over Bute and Brook’s last two fights against Hatton and Jones have drew very good numbers. With PPV dates no longer happening, Sky will want to see this trend continuing and long term, they will look for these figures to slowly increase.
It is an odd scenario Sky have gone with, after promoting and championed fighters such as Quigg and Price as future world champions. To suddenly leave them out of their schedule is risky, whilst I am sure others may label it as a poor decision.
As for the promoters they have let go, they may struggle to begin, but once they find a home, some sense of normality can be installed. When their big stars, such as Quigg and Price, become big contenders if not world champions in their division, it will be very interesting to see what Sky do then. David Price is the big hope of the Heavyweight division for a lot of people, if the heavyweight division starts to rumble again, will Sky regret not being part of it? Time will tell.
What is certain is Sky have played their hand. There is some risk to their strategy, but they do have the back up of Amir Khan who usually fights in America. Of course they have had their differences with Khan in the past, but that looks to be behind them. They also have other attractive foreign fights on show for their hardcore viewer. British boxing is going to get a big shake up in the coming months, I feel Sky’s decision could be of great benefit for British boxing and more importantly, for British fans.
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